Not a Fan

 

A couple weekends ago, my dear husband tackled a project that's been on our "to-do" list for a loooong time. We had a ceiling fan in our room that was really needing to be addressed. Huge white fan blades, tulip shaped shades, and brass details? Not really my cup of tea. I voted for getting rid of the fan altogether and replacing it with a drum shade or something, but my hubby would have non of that. So instead, we decided to find a more streamlined fan that would fit the space better. 

And voila! This little guy was found at Menards for under $40. What a steal! I love that the blades are shorter, and we were able to mount it closer to the ceiling so it doesn't feel like you are being hunted by a giant fan anymore. 

Oh, and just in the spirit of "keeping things real" around here, I thought I would post the whole view of our bed that day. Yup, it usually ends up becoming a clothing hang-out spot at some point of the week. I maybe make the bed 2xs a week? I love seeing a cleanly made bed, but honestly, it's not top on my priority list. 

I'm dying to know- what are your thoughts on ceiling fans? Do you think they are an unfortunate necessity? Do you avoid them at all costs? Or do you embrace the fan? (Well, not actually embrace it, especially when it's running, that would be dangerous...)

Mirror-Obsession

Yup, it's official. I have mirrors on the brain. I guess I just love how they instantly brighten up and add style to any room. And with only 3 windows in our townhome, we definitely need every bit of brightness we can get!

Take for instance our master bedroom. It was lacking a little in the style + light department. I don't know why, but this has proved to be the hardest room to decorate. Maybe because I am stubborn and refuse to repaint. I love the wall color, but it's really hard to decorate around it!

 

I'm always on the lookout for mirrors these days, and I was at Wal-Mart the other day and found these two for $4.95 each. Regular price. Wowza! I definitely snagged them, figuring I could turn them into trays even if they didn't work in the master bedroom. 

Now, they are hanging pretty! I might do something different at some point (I'm thinking of antiquing them and trying to add some type of candle-holder), but for now they add just the touch I was looking for! 

Also- you may have noticed a pillow switcher-oo. I made the slipcovers a few years ago and used them in my first apartment after college, but they had been sitting in my closet for a while. I love the fabric though (bought on clearance at Jo-Anns) and I'm glad they fit in our room so well! 

Oh, how I love cheap, quick decorating fixes!

A bit of color? Yes please!

Remember our dreary, grayish bedroom? It was really starting to feel like a downer, so I decided to perk it up a bit just in time for Spring.

So I came up with a plan featuring a new color scheme, found some inspiration online, and purchased a new bedspread and fabric.

It's starting to come together a little more, as evidenced below.


I finished 2 throw pillows for the bed and got my crafty hat on and made some colorful touches for our room as well. There's still SO much to do, but for now this feels better. It's just enough color to make the room inviting instead of depressing!


The fabric and letters are from JoAnne craft stores, and I painted the letters with yellow craft paint and used some pearly paint to bring out some stripes. It was a super fun, easy project!


Ok, here's a view of the whole thing together, but seriously, the lighting in this room is atrocious! So please pretend that this picture was NOT taken with the flash and looks incredible. Thanks a bunch. =)


Ahh. So much better. Now I just need a bouquet of fresh flowers to put on the nightstand... hubs? Are you reading this? =)

Pulling the Colors Together

Coming up with a color scheme is fun. But when it comes to actually picking out items that really go along with the colors you chose, well, that can be a little challenging!

I remember choosing colors for my wedding and nearly ripping my hair out over things like "That bridesmaids dress is not the right shade of Warm Teal!"

I'm realizing more and more that color is not necessarily a hard and fast rule, but more of a guideline. Also, having colors that are similar shades without being an exact match can actually help bring out more of the color you are going for than if you only had the same exact shade throughout.

(Image from Ideal Home)

Like in the image above, I love how all the different shades of yellow compliment each other and bring out the best in the other colors. What do you think?

I'm hoping that I can recreate that for our bedroom makeover as well. I found some fabric for accent pillows, and I'm super excited to sew them up and see how they look together.


The green fabric will be on 2 square pillows, and the colorful fabric will be on a round pillow with a covered button. I couldn't resist the floral fabric, it was just calling my name! I think so far the yellow fabric will be used on piping and maybe another pillow.

All the fabric came from JoAnnes basic line of home dec fabric. I love their fabric, because it's always $9.99 per yard and you can use your coupons to get up to 50% off! I think I got close to 3 yards for less than $20. Score!

Also- fellow blogger Jane was at JoAnne's as well and noticed that the green fabric from my last post is also there. So, if you liked that fabric too it would be a lot cheaper to just buy the fabric and sew up some slipcovers! Thanks Jane!

New Color Scheme- Citrus Tones

Yesterday, I opened some doors (that usually stay closed when company's over!) to give you guys a glimpse into our bedroom. It really needs a makeover and some updating throughout.

One of the biggest parts of a project for me (and frankly, the part that never feels "finished"), is the color scheme. I'm a big advocate of choosing more neutral colors for walls, and then changing up color schemes by incorporating new accessories when needed.


So as you can see, the original "color scheme" for our room was gray, and light blue. Once we bought the bedding and painted the walls, I felt like the room was a little dreary. So painting the bed frame white, and adding in some chic white lamps and curtains was my lame attempt at brightening up our room. Really, I don't know what I was thinking here. I love bright, airy, fresh colors and this room obviously doesn't fit the bill.

So, how do you bring a room from gray and dreary, to warm and bright? Well, here's the plan. To offset the warm gray walls and the bright white curtains/lamps/bed frame, I chose 2 citrusy colors to infuse some light and warmth into the space:

I'm already loving this trio of colors, and thinking they will be great friends and work together to make our bedroom a brighter place. What do you think?

As for the actual game plan, I'll start off by sewing a new duvet cover for our bed, that will most likely be a crisp white color.


I love this version from Target, and at $69.99 it might end up being a better deal to just buy it! I think white bedding is the best choice for us to brighten up the space a bit and provide a nice clean canvas for the new color scheme.

Next, I would add in some throw pillows in the accent colors. I looked to Etsy for some inspiration, and I wasn't disappointed! If I weren't planning to sew my own pillows, I would probably be purchasing them from Etsy. The prices are very reasonable, plus most of these items are made by hand! Here's a few that caught my eye:

(Pillow from Urban Fringe @ Etsy- $24)

(Pillow cover from Freshly Sewn @ Etsy- $14)

(Pillow from Purple Pajamas @ Etsy- $38)

After pulling in the accent colors with some textiles, I would put some art on the walls that would continue the color scheme. In keeping with the fresh citrus tones, I want to draw inspiration from nature. I found SO MANY lovely prints on Etsy, I think it would be really difficult to choose one (or even two or three!).

Here's a few that I absolutely adore:

(Out of Winter by urbandesign)

(Sugarplum Vines by urbandesign)

(Lichen by atashtoys)

(Dogwood by TCaponePhoto)

(Into the Mystic by honeytree)

Do you see what I mean? I love all of these prints. I wish I could just buy them all!

One thing that helps me when I'm first getting the feel for how I want to decorate a room is finding an item that represents the color scheme. It can be a piece of fabric, a picture, a throw pillow, or pretty much anything. It helps to have a reference point to go back to throughout the project. I haven't found the exact thing for this room yet, but I'm still looking!

In the next few posts, I'll share the deets on how I plan to update the rest of the room with furniture and accessories. I can't wait to hear what you think so far!

How about you? Where do you go for inspiration? What are the first steps you take to decorate a space?


As always, I feel it's pertinent to mention that I was not paid to endorse Etsy or any other retailer mentioned in these posts. I just love to share great finds with my readers! Hope you enjoy.

Updating the Bedroom

I think my bedroom has been featured on this blog a grand total of two times. Why is it that our bedrooms always get the least amount of care? There are some days when I leave the room, shut the door, and don't go back in until it's time to go to bed.

Well, not anymore. I am bound and determined to do some makeover magic in this room! Of course, it's going to be on a relatively small budget (uhm, like, free...), and thankfully we won't need to purchase any furniture (unless I can talk the hubs into buying us a new bed frame from IKEA!).

So here is the room in it's current (ho-hum) status:


Of course, there are definitely things I love about our room. The lamps, side tables, curtains, and bamboo shades are all on my "LOVE" list. We used to have the bed against that wall on the left, but moved it about a year ago and I'm really happy with it's new spot.


On one side of the room is Josh's dresser, and a photo from our engagement shoot. I love that picture, but I think it definitely needs an updated frame. The black isn't really doing it for me in this space. Also, I'm planning to paint both of our dressers to give them an updated look. They are vintage dressers, solid wood, that were given to us by a lady from our church, along with lots of other furniture, when she found out we were engaged. How cool is that?


Another thing that is needing to be updated is our overhead fan. Josh and I try to be good about not using the AC too much in the Summer (oh, the expense!), so an overhead fan is a MUST for those warm Summer nights. So instead of replacing the whole thing, I think I will whip out the spray paint to cover the brass and see about getting some new glass shades to replace the outdated, frosted ones.


Here's the other side of the room, which houses my dresser and a mirror I've had since High School. I still love the classic shape of the mirror, but I have a few ideas up my sleeve for how I can update it to bring in some more interesting elements.


Here on the right is the entrance door, and on the left is our walk-in closet. Gotta love those wood, bi-fold doors. Sigh.


And of course, the closet. We left the original paint in there when we painted the room mostly because I was too lazy to move all of our clothes out. Also, I distinctly remember thinking "it's a closet. Why would we care what our stupid closet looks like?" Apparently, that was before I saw what closets could potentially look like and decided that I wanted a glamorous room to put my shoes in too.

(Paris Hilton's closet, image via Decorpad)

Ladies, I will give you a moment to wipe away the drool and let your heart calm down. Who wouldn't want a closet like that? Ok, so maybe all this glamour is not in the foreseeable future for me (I'm guessing Josh wouldn't be drooling over this, maybe laughing, but not drooling), but our closet could definitely use some updating.

So, to summarize, here's one last glimpse of the room in all it's "Before" glory.


Along with a few little notes about the changes that are going to be happening. Yay! Stay tuned, I am planning a post tomorrow that will give you a better idea of the new color scheme I want to incorporate. How about you? Has your bedroom been sadly neglected too, or is it just me?

A sweet summer makeover

Well, it seems that Summer is finally upon us! Even though it is only May, the temperature (and humidity) has been steadily rising.

With the bright, sunny weather outside, our bedroom was starting to look a little bleak. In order to bring it out of the winter doldrums, I decided to make some summery changes!

In case you don't remember what it USED to look like, here's a little reminder:


Old bedspread, mis-matched lamps, see-through curtains. Yep, definitely a candidate for a makeover.

And now, for the after:



The details:

I bought a new duvet and pillow sham set from IKEA for a whopping $14.99.
The lamps are from Home Depot- a little more expensive at $49.99 each.
New curtains- also IKEA- were only $19.99.

After hemming and hawing over my lamp situation, I finally decided to just buy new lamps. As much as I love thrifting and finding inexpensive things, sometimes it's better to buy new! For instance, if you are trying to find identical lamps! I really felt like we needed 2 matching lamps to really anchor the space. I'm so happy we went with the ones from Home Depot, they are great and could work well in almost any setting. Definitely worth the price!


The little alarm clock is also from IKEA, but I bought it a few years ago.

We also invested in a new plant. I'm hoping it will last at least 3 months this time! But, if it doesn't, at least it was only $4.99.


Here's another close-up of the lamps. Aren't they pretty?


Well folks, I'm off to bed. But not before I link up to Kimba's DIY day. Did you know it's her last weekly DIY party? I was sad to see that, it's been fun seeing all of the other projects every week. You should definitely hop over there to see some of the other Do It Yourself projects!


I am also linked up to The Shabby Chic Cottage's "Transformation Thursdays" here!

inspiration for friday

For the longest time, I have been going back to this picture and gazing at the color combination. I just love yellow and gray together!

I'm trying to think of some new ideas for our bedroom- we painted the walls gray and have a bedspread that is aqua blue with gray and white stripes. But lately, I have been wanting to lighten up the color scheme in there, and these pictures are inspiring!

Also, we haven't been able to decide whether we will try to do some updates in the kitchen, or just save our remodeling for when we move into a bigger place. If we do update the kitchen, I have been eyeing subway tiles... I would love to paint the cabinets a creamy white and have a subway tile backspash. Maybe a new butcherblock countertop?

So that's what my brain is up to these days... do you notice the common theme of yellow? Perhaps I am longing for the summer sun?

(all images from apartment therapy)